Fastening device for shoes and the like



June 14,1927. A 1,632.064

J. R. GAMMETER FASTENING DEVICE FOR SHOES AND THE LIKE Filed May 13, 1924 Patented June 14, 1927.

UNITED STATES JOHN R. GAMMETER, O1 AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOLRJTO THE B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,' A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

FASTENING DEVICE FOR SHOES AND THE LIKE.

Application filed May 13,

'lliisinvention relates to shoes provided with fastening means adapted to provide a substantially continuous connection of the opposed margins or flies of the shoe, as in the case of a type of fastener heretofore extensively used on overshoes, comprising a pair of stringers having secured thereon, in spaced relation, respective sets of jaw members or clasps adapted to be engaged with each other in alternate, staggered, and nested or stacked relation, by the action of'a cam slide mounted upon the two stringers. 111 such fasteners the stringers preferably are substantially inextensible along the edge to which the clasps are attached, to assure the proper functioning of the slide and to prevent the clasps from springing apart and becoming disengaged when the fastener is subjected to strain. j

While fasteners of this type as heretofore applied to overshoes have advantages over tllQCOIIIlllOIl buckle fasteners, especially in point of quick operation and neatness of appearance, they have not entirely eliminated wrinkling or buckling of the'upper at positions along the" fastener as the ankle 'is bent. As the fasteners referred to are not adapted for adjustment in accordance with the shape of the wearers foot or angle;

buckling of the fabric may be such. as to spoil the appearance of the shoe Where the ankle fit is too loose, or to causediscomfort to the wearer if the fit at the ankle is too close. Wrinkling. of the fabric also, because of the continuous junction of the flies of the shoe, ma place excessive local strain upon some of t e clasps and upon adjacent parts of the upper.

My chief object is to provide-fan improved continuous fastener shoe having a neat and comfortable fit notwithstanding variations of shape as to the feet or ankles of individ ual wearers. A further object is to provide I against the entrance of moisture, while at sociate taining the first stated object. Another object is to provide an economical method of formin and assembling the fastener and asshoe parts, whereby a shoe having the advantages described may be obtained.

My invention is of es ecial advantage in rubber overshoes, where find it desirable to join the fastener members with the flies of the shoe by means of a highly elastic anchorage strip such as is rovided by the use of knitted fabric or fa ric interwoven with a 1924. Serial No. 713,087.

decided crimp, as in fabric inserts heretofore 1 used mthe Congress type of shoe, to provide a high degree of stretchability, and rubber being associated with the fabric or incorporated therein to provide resilience or recoil, so that the fabric, after being fasteners of the type described herein, as

in U. S. PatentNo. 1,322,650 to G. Sundback, for'use in closures for curved openings, where the anchorage strip, in being mounted, requires to be curved in its own plane to conform to the shape of the openmg, the bias-cut fabric being used to permit such curvature.- Bias-cut fabric strips, however, y eld in one direction chiefly by shortening in a direction transverse thereto, the stretch being incident chiefly to the warp and weft threads becoming oblique to each other. Thus the distortion of the fabric underlocal strain is not so localized, and the bias-cut fabric is not so elastic, as to give the best results in an overshoe fastening, where the problem is not one of mounting shrinking, but concerns the avoidance of wrinkles and excessive local strains when the overshoe' is flexed in service.

.A preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

of which: I

Fig. 1 IS a perspective view of an overshoe provided with my improved fastening structure.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the continuous fastener, including the anchorage strips as it};1 appears before it is incorporated in the s 0e.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view on a larger scale, of a portion ofone of the fastener elements, showing details of construction.

Referring to the drawings, my improved the anchorage strip without goring or by bending toward each other the portions of the clamp which define the apertures 14 and slots 15, the locking pgrtions of the clasps projecting from the aded edge of the strip. I

The locking portion of each clasp. is formed at oneside with a recess 16 and at the opposite side with a projection 17, the

recesses and projections-of adjacent clasps, .on the respective stringers, being adapted to mate with each-other, as the clasps are successively brought into stacked or intercalated relation by a cam slide 18 (Fig. 2), as is well understood in the art, reverse movement of the slide serving to disengage the clas s in succession by a bending apart of t e stringers, which bending is carried pro essively along the stringers by the cam side.

- 19, 19 are upper end-stops for the slide cam 18, and .20, Fig. 1, is.a lower end-stop connecting the pair-of stringers.

In making the shoe the assembled fastening structure, consisting of the arts shown in Fig. 2, is incorporated in t e shoe by building the outer margins of the pair of anchorage strips 10 into the margins of the shoe upper as shown in Fig. 1, between the lining 21 and the outer fabric 22 of the upper. These members, being rubberized on their adjacent faces, adhere to the anchorage strips 10. The shoe as thus built is then yulcanized, with the effect that theanchorage-strips are securely joined tothe upper. The vulcanization of the rubber coating 11 provides, between the plies of the anchorage strips, an elastic rubber sheet. My preferred procedure thus provides, in a simple and economical manner, the, de'sired resilience or recoil, exclusion of moisture, and a neat and strong beaded edge for the mounting'of the clasps.

My invention is susceptible of modification without sacrifice of all of its advantages, and I do not wholly limit iny claims to the exact construction or procedure described.

I claim: .v

1. A fastening device comprising a pair of anchorage strips, a row of clasps secured on a margin of each of the strips and a slide' for engaging the clasps of one strip with those of the other, at least one of the said strips com rising a piece of locally-yielding fabric fol ed upon itself about an inexten sible cord to provide a bead, and the clasps being secured upon the said head.

2. A fastening device as defined in claim 1 in which the folded piece of locally-yielding fabric is held'in its folded condition by elastic rubber. 1

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 9th day of May, 1924.

JOHN R. GAMMETER. 

